How to Deal
by faithmelodies
Summary: Every minute of every hour of every day, Sakura is bullied by her fellow peers on accusations about her family and personal life. While she believes that she will always remain an outcast, things begin to look differently when a new student comes into town and accepts her for who she really is.


Hi everyone, I'm back! I finally worked on something long enough to the point of it being worthy to post, so here it is. Please alert, fav, and review. Thanks ~

Disclaimer: None of the Naruto characters belong to me, blah blah.

~ X ~

The squealing of rusted bus breaks signaled the arrival of the destination I hated most: school. I stepped down the stairs with my backpack off to one shoulder and my head kept low. I wasn't particularly happy that school was starting again, since it would further the amount of drama I already had present in my life. Luckily, this would be my last bloody year.

I've certainly had my share of problems, as did my mother before me. She had grown up in a poor and insecure family, and constantly saw violence between my grandparents. It had been a hostile environment, and she left home at the age of sixteen, since her father was starting to direct anger at her because of his failing marriage. Sometimes, my mother told me about how the situation got so bad that she actually feared for her life multiple times.

However, my problems didn't start until she was twenty, and that was when both of her parents died on a ninja mission. She ended up having no one to turn to for support, since her mother would help her out whenever things became financially difficult. Without the cash to pay for rent, and because her job was one that only paid minimum wage, she ended up being evicted and homeless out on the street. In addition to that, she turned to prostitution as the only way to support herself. Although my mother had been against the idea of selling herself on the side of the road, she did admit that it was the only way at the time that helped her raise money to get a much smaller apartment and keep clothing on her back. Somewhere along the way, she met someone she liked more than the others, forgot to use protection, and thus, I was born.

To this day, I still don't have a clue about who my father is. While she never knew his name, my mom did tell me that he was a rather strong and polite shinobi who was a part of the ANBU branch, and that she was one of the only few who actually saw his face without the mask. She told me that I reminded her of him a lot. Apparently, I have his same expressions, round face, intelligence, and eagerness to learn. At the same time, she also said that while I do act like him and have some of his features, I have a lot in common with her as well; the figure, pink hair color, and sway of the hips when I walked. However, I wasn't sure about the last one, since I never really watched her walk on a flat surface, but that's just me.

Although my mom never said anything else about the man, deep down, I knew that she wished to meet up with him again. I had a feeling that she had been attracted to him the moment he talked to her, and secretly, I wished that he would come back into her life. However, this was a reality that I doubt would ever happen, since she had been arrested last year on charges of prostitution, but will be getting out in a few months. Ever since she was put into jail, I have been living with her secret therapist who just so happened to be Kohona's Hokage and one of the legendary Sannin, Tsunade.

There is a lot I could say about Tsunade, since she has helped me out so much in life, but I'm sure that it would take all day to fully explain in detail. She is an older blonde woman with a rather youthful appearance due to her chakra reserves keeping her looking young. In contrast to this, she is not an overly vain woman, but someone who is kind, yet straight to the point and has a fierce attitude. Without her stubborn personality and persistence, my mother would have never started taking the steps toward getting off the streets and finding a real office job. Although she is still in prison, Tsunade has continued working out a way for her to get into the workforce to be able to provide for herself, seeing as I will be on my own next year.

In addition to helping out the only family member I know about, she also helped me out a lot, too. Since she got custody of me when I was a sophomore, she had decided that I was still young enough to learn how to become a kunoichi. With her knowledge, she taught me basic taijutsu and ninjutsu, along with refining my chakra control and helping me gain medical abilities. It took a long time to learn everything, and in fact, I still believe I have a long way to go, but she always says I pretty much have everything mastered.

Anyway, without the help of this woman, I would have ended up following in my mother's footsteps and possibly becoming a prostitute, as well. The very thought of that possibility always sent shivers up my spine, and I am forever thankful to my teacher, mentor, and second mother.

I slipped past the crowds of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and of course, seniors, as I made my way up to the steps of the front entrance to the Konoha High School. The door was opened up by a teacher I assumed to be new, since I didn't recognize his face.

Despite other smaller villages and towns, our high school wasn't like the others across the nations. Kohona's was actually a combination of both a normal school for the civilians, as well as classes for older ninjas in training to become chunin or jonin in rank. While there was still the Ninja Academy that we all attended, that school became limited to just young students that have not yet reached the genin rank, and yes, Iruka still works there.

Walking down the long corridor toward the senior hallways, I made a sharp left before finding my homeroom class. The teacher had been the one that I had seen only moments before, and he sat at the desk across from the doorway by a set of windows that were opened to let the warm breeze circulate. He had spiky white hair that somehow managed to stay upright. I couldn't tell whether it was natural or teased with a comb, but I certainly wasn't going to run my hands through it to find out. In addition, his face was covered with a dark blue mask that extended past his neck, concealing all facial features apart from a scar that ran up along left side of his face right over his eye. Along with a standard green ninja vest, the man also wore navy pants with white bandages above his knee on his right leg. A forehead protector covered his left eye, making me suspicious. Minus the scare, he appeared to be in his mid-thirties.

While I didn't realize that I was still standing at the doorway, he apparently did, since he spoke first.

"Hello there, I'm Mr. Hatake, and who are you, miss?"

Startled, I glanced back in his direction.

"Sakura Haruno," I replied clearly.

He nodded, turning his attention to the attendance sheet laid out on his desk and checking my name off the list. Meanwhile, I walked through a row of desks and sat in the one farthest back, hoping that the other students that would come in would know the stay far away from me. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair as my nerves were all jumbled up from the thought of seeing the people that hated me. Even though I was taking Tsunade's advice of remaining unseen and ignoring those that caused me trouble, it would be much harder to keep in practice when they would come to me, since then there would be nowhere for me to run to then. The only reason why people hated and tormented me so much was simply because they all thought that I was a slut just because of the acts my mother did and the rumors circulating around about her. In reality, none of them knew that I was a saint who never engaged in any sort of sexual behavior. In fact, I made sure that, for now, I would stay out of it.

Hearing the faint sound of footsteps, I looked up toward the doorway to see that two boys had walked in, one guy chatting wildly while the other one just stared back at him blankly.

I immediately recognized the first one to be Naruto. He is regarded as the class clown in our grade, and was extremely popular with both the girls and the guys. Even though he isn't a player and doesn't date much, he does cause a scene wherever he goes, and is unusually loud, which is often the reason why he gets into trouble. His blonde hair is kept fairly short and is naturally spiky. Naruto also has deep blue eyes and faint facial streaks running down his face, which remind me of a cat's whiskers, and they give him an innocent appearance.

Then, there was his friend Neji, who is the exact opposite of Naruto. The Hyuga is always calm, collected, and never gets into any trouble. He has perfect grades that always make him get on the honor role, and has been in Kohona's National Honor Society since freshman year. Not only that, but he is also one of the more popular guys with the girls, since they consider him to be hot and mysterious, while I have always thought otherwise. Neji's eyes are clear since he has the Byakugan, and his brown hair is kept back in a long ponytail.

I stared at the clock, watching the hands slowly pass by each number carefully, not missing a single second as it moved over their surfaces. By the time I looked at the doorway again, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and Shikamaru had walked in. They were also popular, and I mentally groaned.

_How many popular people are going to be in this class?_ I place my head in my hands; not bothering to see who else would walk into the room. At this point, it no longer mattered to me who walked in, since it wouldn't make my situation any better. What made it worse was that they all sat relatively close to where I was, which is what I had been trying to avoid in the first place. I was frustrated.

A few minutes later, my ears picked up on the familiar footsteps of Ino and Tenten approaching me and taking a few of the empty seats that still lingered around me. I peeked up from under my eyelashes, surveying the area before bending over to pull out my schedule to read it over.

Digging through my bag, I managed to find it, even though it was crinkled with creased edges. Nevertheless, I unfolded it and skimmed it before Ino would want to see it. After all, she did the same routine for the past two years.

_Sakura Haruno – Senior Year_

_Period A: Kakashi Hatake (Ninjutsu)_

_Period B: Gai-Sensei (Taijutsu)_

_Period C: Shizune (Medic Techniques)_

_Period D: Kurenai Yūhi (Study Hall) _

_Period E: Asuma Sairutobi (Kenjutsu) _

_Period F: Kurenai (Fuinjutsu)_

_Period G: Genma Shiranui (Chakra Flow & General Ninja Studies)_

"Sakura, can I see it?" Without even waiting for my response, Ino pulled the sheet from my hands, replacing it with her own. I sighed. _This is so her usual behavior_, I thought. _She didn't even bother to say hi. _

_Ino Yamanaka – Senior Year_

_Period A: Kakashi Hatake (Ninjutsu) _

_Period B: Genma Shiranui (Chakra Flow & General Ninja Studies)_

_Period C: Shizune (Medic Techniques) _

_Period D: Kurenai Yūhi (Study Hall) _

_Period E: Ebisu (Collaboration Jutsu) _

_Period F: Kurenai Yūhi (Fuinjutsu)_

_Period G: Gai-Sensei (Taijutsu) _

"Aw, we only have two classes together!" She whined, putting the paper back on my desk before retrieving her own. Ino had never been the nicest person to the others around her, but I was used to it. Her life wasn't the greatest, either. Like me, many people considered her to be a slut, not that I ever told her that. However, some of the rumors about her social status are true, since she had slept with three people last year, although they were not a part of our grade. Despite that, many of the guys found her to be prettier than me over the years, resulting in her having dozens of boyfriends while I never got a single date. Not only that, but last year, I also found out that she had been diagnosed with both anorexia and bulimia, and that explained all the times at lunch when she either didn't buy lunch or didn't touch a single thing on the tray. She was always starving herself, and whenever she did eat, she would go on splurges and end up just throwing it up into the nearest toilet bowl through purging. Looking back on that now, I remember how hard it was to watch her sit there slowly withering away. But, thanks to the help of doctors and the guidance of her family, she is slowly starting the healing process.

"Ino," I began, trying to cheer her up, "Don't worry about it. We still have lunch, homeroom, and study hall together." Tenten looked up at me with an apologetic expression, as if having Ino around for all of those times would be a pain in the ass. In a way, it was, but she was better than hanging out with someone who keeps so many secrets about her life that if they were dollar bills, the back of a pickup truck could be filled past the point of overflowing.

While Ino had an eating disorder, Tenten was a drug addict. I wasn't sure which drug she is currently hooked on, since she's tried just about every one there is, but I do know that she has a huge stash of needles in her room and injects whatever she buys off the streets into her bloodstream. One time, I was over her house, and after using the bathroom, I walked into her room to find the girl sitting on her bed shooting up. Although walking into Ino throwing up had been qualified as one of the top five nastiest things I had seen in my lifetime, the Tenten incident was definitely number one in my book.

Mr. Hatake stood up right before the bell rang, walking up to the front where the projector was stationed. One by one, he called out the names of the students in our class. As he did so, I half-listened as I looked past his desk, directing my attention toward the open windows.

"Tenten?"

"Here," she replied.

"Neji?"

"Present."

Mr. Hatake marked off the two names before calling out the next one.

"Naruto?"

"Over here!" The teacher sighed.

"Naruto, please refrain from yelling at this time of day."

"Oh, sorry Mr. Hatake," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ino?"

"Here," she replied while in a fit of giggles after whispering something to Tenten, who nodded back at her with a wide grin.

"Already marked off Sakura," he mumbled, and I looked up to suddenly see everyone looking in my direction, making me blush. While some just stared at me plainly, other rolled their eyes.

"Shikamaru?"

"How troublesome," the boy with a spiky black ponytail muttered.

"Kiba?"

"Yo."

"Hinata?"

"H-here." As usual, she couldn't get a single word, never mind a whole sentence, out of her mouth without stuttering. I've never heard a clear sentence come out of her, but if I did, I would be stunned speechless.

Mr. Hatake's eyes scanned the rest of the list, getting bored with the task of calling names.

"Tayuya, Karin, Sasori, and Suigestsu, are you guys all here?"

"Yup," they answered in unison.

"Alright then," the teacher said, checking them off quickly.

"Sasuke?"

Dead silence followed after his name, bringing me back to reality. Looking over, I saw the one empty desk that was supposed to be filled, and it just so happened to be on my right.

After a moment, I heard footsteps coming from down the hallway, and saw him turn into the classroom, his head held high. There was sudden wave of confidence rolling off of his form, making him seem fit to be the perfect candidate for yet another popular person.

"Sorry, I came here a little late, and I had to run by the office to pick up my schedule," he said to Mr. Hatake, who just nodded and marked off the last name before speaking to the class.

"Homeroom ends in five minutes, so do whatever so that you're all ready for the rest of the day. If you need me, I'll be at my desk."

Sasuke walked over to the lone desk, glancing at me for a moment before sitting down. Ino looked over to him, before leaning over to whisper to Tenten.

"So, you're Sasuke?" My eyes shifted over to my blonde friend, who was turned around to face him, since she was sitting in front of me. Focusing my attention back toward him, only now did I truly see what he looked like. He was indeed worthy popular material; he had raven black hair that was spiked up in the back and dark, onyx-colored eyes. It almost seemed that the depth of them made him seem more mysterious than what many people would seem to think, judging by the expression he held. He didn't look mean, but then again, he didn't seem overly friendly. I considered him to just be plain neutral, which wasn't a bad thing at all, I guess.

"Hn," he answered, pulling out his own schedule as if Ino didn't even exist, never mind sitting near him. Her eyes narrowed, not used to getting this kind of reaction from a guy. Usually, they were all over her, flirting or talking to her, and for once, seeing this scene play out felt like heaven for me, perhaps even better, if that's even possible. Now, for a brief, fleeting moment, she could feel the pain I had whenever they ignored or rejected me. This was the perfect payback.

Sasuke looked over at me, peering down at the folded piece of paper still between my fingers.

"Can I see your schedule?" I nodded numbly, for I had almost jumped out of my seat at the sound of his voice, and I handed it to him before any other reaction could come out of me. In return, he handed me his as if we were already friends. I was at loss for words.

_Sasuke Uchiha – Senior Year _

_Period A: Kakashi Hatake (Ninjutsu) _

_Period B: Gai-Sensei (Taijutsu) _

_Period C: Kakashi Hatake /Kurenai Yūhi (Genjutsu)_

_Period D: Kurenai Yūhi (Study Hall) _

_Period E: Asume Sairutobi (Kenjutsu)_

_Period F: Kurenai (Fuinjutsu)_

_Period G: Genma Shiranui_

"Hm, we have six classes together. Would you mind showing me around for the day?" Sasuke suddenly looked a little friendlier towards me, as if he was really trying to make a good impression on me so he could get his first friend, being the new kid and all. I had wished for that to happen to me on my first day, but I wasn't very smart about it, apparently, since I ended up with the wrong crowd of people.

But, before I could answer, Ino had already responded.

"I could show you," she said, and I swore that I heard a purr to her voice. However, it didn't seem to affect him one bit.

"No thanks," he said, handing back my wrinkled paper while glancing down at hers, "You onlu have one class with me, anyway."

At that moment, the bell rang, and I got out of my seat and headed toward the door until I remembered that Sasuke was going to follow me around for the entire day. _Great, now I have a tag-along_. I grumbled under my breath. Even though he was good-looking, actually, scratch that, he was really hot; I didn't want a guy following me around for the entire day. It was just plain creepy and only Kiba would do that.

Sasuke walked up beside me before I even made my way out the door, showing that he could easy keep stride with me. I pushed past the bustling crowds of other teenagers I vaguely remembered from last year.

After walking down a long hallway past the cafeteria, we reached the doors of the first class we had together: Ninjutsu. I reached forward to pull the handle, but he beat me to it.

"Ladies first," Sasuke teased, and I rolled my eyes at him. Flattery rarely affected me. Ignoring his response, I headed over to the large set of bleachers on the other side of the room, which was built to be a gymnasium rather than a classroom. Most of the classes I would be taking would have similarly- styled rooms, except for my homeroom, study hall, and medical class.

The teacher was, of course, Mr. Hatake, and somehow, he managed to get here faster than us when we were the first students to arrive. He smiled at us from under his mask, putting away his book that read 'Icha Icha' across the cover. _Lovely_, I thought while sitting up in the top row. _He reads perverted romance novels_.

All of the other students in my class showed up a minute later, tending to stay and travel in well-knitted groups. The first people I noticed right away were Tayuya and Karin, and by the looks of things, they seemed to be talking shit about me behind my back. Again. Well, maybe I should quote that as in front of my back, since they weren't actually behind me.

I looked over to another set of people, which had Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, and Neji. Tenten sat next to them a moment later, seeming stiff as if not in her element, which was true, judging by the people around her. Sasuke sat down next to me on the bleachers, and Naruto moved over next to him, probably trying to make himself another friend to the ever-growing list. It was quite typical of the blonde, seeing as he talked to pretty much everyone. Well, except for me.

"Hey Sakura," Naruto said, looking in my direction. Once again, I was stunned, and stared straight back at him as if he were crazy, but then composed myself.

"Uh, hi."

"What was that face for?" Great, now he was going into specifics.

"Well, you never talk to me, so I'm kind of confused as to why you're trying to start a conversation." Leaning back against the wall, I watched as Karin gave me an evil glare while Tayuya just smirked from behind her friend's back.

"What, I can't try to be friends with you?"

"I never said that," I retorted. My personality was backfiring on me. Bad.

"Fine then, let's start off fresh. Hi Sakura."

_God_, I moaned in the back of my mind. _He is so pushy_. Sasuke looked down at me, since he was a little taller, and just shook his head.

"Hello Naruto," I started, "Let's not get into stupidity now. If you really want to become friends with me, you're going to have to keep working on it."

"Alright then," he grinned, "I'll take on that challenge." At that moment, I really wanted to slap myself in the face. Like, really hard.

"Welcome class," Mr. Hatake greeted. "Some of you I already met in homeroom, but I do see a few new faces. You three in the front; what are your names?" He looked down at them to make clear to whom he was talking to.

"Gaara."

"Temari."

"Kankuro."

"Well, alright then. From today onward, all of you will be organized into teams of two, so I will have to sort out the groups. I will be helping to improve your techniques, as well as teaching some new ones, along with just getting basic practice.

"Also," He continued, "each of you will be assigned a number so that when the teams are formed, they will be at random. Everyone, please form a line here." The teacher pointed a few feet in front of him while pulling out a small stack of index cards with numbers written on them.

"Sasuke, you're one. Karin, you are a two." Mr. Hatake walked down the line, handing a card to everyone.

"Tayuya, you are a three, Gaara is a four, Kankuro is a lucky five, Temari a six, and Naruto is a noisy seven." The people who received their cards then moved back toward the bleachers, waiting to find out who their partner would be.

"Shikamaru is an eight, Sakura, you are a nine, Ino is compatible with a ten, and Miss Tenten got an eleven, while Hinata is a twelve. That should be everyone now."

Mr. Hatake pulled out his sheet of the numbers that went together before calling out the sets.

"Twelve and seven make up the first set." Naruto and Hinata got up, moving off to a far corner of the gym.

"Two and three are next." Karin grinned and moved over to Tayuya's side, before peeking over her shoulder to glance at Sasuke.

"Four and eleven are out," The teacher said while pointing in the direction that they should go.

"Ten goes with eight, and five goes with six." Kankuro joined up with his sister, Temari, while Ino happily walked over to Shikamaru, who just muttered under his breath.

"Last, but not least, are one and nine." I looked around; noticing that the only partner left that I could have was Sasuke, who didn't say much as I walked over to his side. I glanced back over at Ino, and smiled slightly. _She seems happy with Shikamaru_, I thought.

"What are you smiling about?" Okay, Sasuke had to be keeping tabs on me now if he was watching me that closely.

"Oh nothing," I mumbled, waiting for further instruction. I preferred to keep my thoughts to myself.

"Does anyone here know the definition for what ninjutsu is?"

Naruto's hand was the first to go up, and got called on.

"Ninjutsu techniques are moves done by using chakra and spiritual energy."

"Right, Naruto. Everyone here should have at least a few techniques using ninjutsu. Since today is the first day here, everyone will be training individually for the surprise waiting for all of you tomorrow."

Of course, Naruto got nosy. "What kind of surprise? Is it a test?"

"You'll see tomorrow." Mr. Hatake gave a small smile back at his student, before sending everyone to different station.

Since my moves revolving around my chakra control, I was one of the few working outside, and had the biggest area around my station. Large logs were places all around, but a large gap of space was left at the very center.

At first, I worked on making clones, which wasn't my strongest move, and I hadn't worked on it in years. So, naturally, the first batch I made were a horrible failure, but the second I made with three were deemed much worthier, and by the eighth time, they were much, much more superior to the ones I had made two years ago when training with Tsunade, and she had deemed those as perfect. Focusing one more time, I made eight this time, using my ability in chakra control to my full advantage.

After those basic drills were over, I looked around to see what everyone else was doing. I looked over at Sasuke, noticing that, he too, had logs spread out across his station. He was using some kind of lightning move that I wasn't familiar with, but I certainly could hear the sound it was making. I studied it, perplexed by how it worked when he used it against the logs and rocks, replacing what the normal striking object, or human, would be. It seemed as if it could cut through anything, and along with that came the burns and smoke from the high temperatures it was at.

Focusing back to what I was doing, I once again worked with my chakra control, directly all of my strength into my right leg and foot as I kicked a log, causing it to immediately shatter to bits. I rotated between punching the tall ones, and kicking the smaller ones until the last one turned into nothing but a pile of small wood chips and sawdust. Then, I prepared myself for the hardest part of my workout. Shattering the ground.

Pinpointing all of my chakra into my fist, my knuckles colliding with suck a force that I saw small ripples pass through the dirt and rock surface before the whole ground tore apart in an upheaval and shook strongly, causing nearby students to take alarm. I stayed where I was until the last tidal wave of earth settled back down to the ground where it came from, although it was broken up into rough, uneven chunks and pieces.

Once the dust finally settled, I glanced around to see the large ring of destruction I had created. That was when my eyes caught on to all of the faces looking my way. While Ino and Tenten were grinning, Karin was staring at me as if I was a monster. Tayuya simply glared out of jealously, and Hinata backed away from fright. My gaze shifted over to Sasuke, who seemed to have watched the whole thing play out from the very beginning, and must have been impressed, because a slight smirk was etched across his features.

I then noticed Kakashi walking up to me, smiling and surveying what my jutsu had done.

"I have to say Sakura, when Tsunade had told me about your techniques, I thought she was exaggerating. Apparently, I was wrong, and I am very impressed."

"Thanks, Mr. Hatake." For once, I actually smiled, and not one of the fake plastic ones that I used all the time, but an actual genuine smile.

~ X ~


End file.
